Memory becomes reality

Luigi Sergi has dedicated himself to art since he first encountered it at a very young age. The colors, materials, and culture of his land have shaped his soul and sensibilities so much that, as a self-taught artist, he began to devote himself to painting and sculpture, demonstrating to his family, especially his father, that he possessed remarkable artistic talent. This same talent, later nurtured at the Academy, today makes him well-known throughout the national territory, also because, despite residing in Piedmont for several years, he has maintained his connections with Salento, dedicating himself to art in both areas. The early years were marked by the experimentation with different techniques and the search for subjects that were far from reality but close to a world made of natural elements, his own: the matrix of his culture deeply influenced him, leaving him a legacy of a taste for earthy and warm colors and bright tones, which fondly recall the skies and seas of his land. The landscapes of memory thus become real in paintings where the skies open infinitely, and objects scattered with apparent randomness create a union with the earth; the sculptures, on the other hand, become totemic, remnants of an ancestral cult that leads him to seek the roots of a past whose understanding is necessary to implant the future. The sculptures often include movable elements, allowing the viewer to interact with his world, making the works always different in their uniqueness. The move to Novara, prompted by his appointment as a teacher of artistic disciplines, allowed him to have significant encounters that contributed to the acquisition of new compositional fullness. However, it also made evident his nostalgia for his homeland and the “interrupted” connections, to the point of starting the series of packages, with which he has kept and continues to keep friendly and familial relationships alive by sending packages that are themselves works of art. The mystery of what is inside is the common thread that connects him with the recipient, who can decide whether to open the package or keep it, fully aware that, in either case, they will have fully experienced the value of immersive art. Today, after decades of activity, he has built his personal communicative language, which is expressed through different media and forms, allowing him never to stop experimenting and discovering; in this way, he reveals to others the suggestions and emotions of his artistic practice, which becomes a gift of knowledge and growth. His current world looks, among others, to Calder and Munari, who seem to converse with him in the same poetic universe; Munari himself said that “Art is continuous research, assimilation of past experiences, addition of new experiences, in form, content, material, technique, means. There must not be an art detached from life: beautiful things to look at and ugly things to use. We must make it understood that as long as art remains alien to the problems of life, it only interests a few people.” This awareness is what animates Sergi, who tells the story of life through his works, leaving full freedom of interpretation to the viewer, but charting paths of knowledge that open infinite possibilities, because for him, art is life, knowledge, and beauty that must be shared. And this is the greatness of the artist.